hoodat
Garden Addicted
I wrote this up for another site but thought it might interest some of the people here. It's an interesting perspective of how animals and men came to live together. One of the things that interested me is that the old Indian that told it to me updated the tale to include what is happening in modern days.
STORY OF ANIMALS AND MEN
American indians like to tell stories. Here is one an old Indian once told me that has always stuck in my mind.
"Once all the world was like smoke and not solid like now.
All was in spirit and so the animals and men could talk and men could even talk to trees and rocks but no one could touch anything because there was nothing to touch. Men and animals did not eat or breathe so there was nothing to taste and smell.
The animals and men wanted to taste and smell so they began to eat and breathe. The animals and the men became seperate and could not talk to each other any more. Men began to kill and eat the animals and some animals began to eat grass and trees and some began to eat each other. All was confusion.
Some animals came to man and said to the wisest who could still hear them, " We are tired of being hunted and eaten. We do not want the bears and wolves to eat us and we do not want to be hunted by you. We want peace and to enjoy our lives so we tell you this. If you will protect us from the bears and wolves we will come and live with you but you must feed us and protect us and make our lives happy. You must see that we will not be hunted until there are no more of us.
In return you may kill some of us so long as you do it quickly and without giving us pain. You must respect us and thank us for the meat and furs we will give you and we will give you our life force to make your spirit strong. You must ask the Mother Earth to nurture our spirits. We will have a peaceful life and you will have meat and furs to keep you warm in Winter.
For many moons the animals that decided to come live with man were happy and the men always had meat and furs when they needed them. Their spirts were strong with the life force the animals gave them. They lived together in peace, but some men became greedy.
They said,"Why should we grow food and give it to the animals? Why should we take care of them and worry about the wolves and bears? Why should we worry about their pain when we kill them?"
These men became cruel and heartless. They crowded them into pens where they could not enjoy life. They fed them only cheap food that was not good to keep them healthy. They began to kill them in cruel ways because that was easier. They no longer thanked the animals when it was time to take their lives or asked the Earth to nuture the spirits of those they killed. They said the animals had no spirits and were there so men could kill and eat them.
The animals became sick because they were not taken care of. Their meat became sick and soon the men who ate of it also became sick and their spirits became weak so they could no longer give men their life force.
The greedy men became more greedy and began to kill other men so they could take away what they had for their own. Their spirits became weak and soon even the Earth was sick with their weakness.
So long as these greedy men remain the earth will be sick and there will be no more peace.
STORY OF ANIMALS AND MEN
American indians like to tell stories. Here is one an old Indian once told me that has always stuck in my mind.
"Once all the world was like smoke and not solid like now.
All was in spirit and so the animals and men could talk and men could even talk to trees and rocks but no one could touch anything because there was nothing to touch. Men and animals did not eat or breathe so there was nothing to taste and smell.
The animals and men wanted to taste and smell so they began to eat and breathe. The animals and the men became seperate and could not talk to each other any more. Men began to kill and eat the animals and some animals began to eat grass and trees and some began to eat each other. All was confusion.
Some animals came to man and said to the wisest who could still hear them, " We are tired of being hunted and eaten. We do not want the bears and wolves to eat us and we do not want to be hunted by you. We want peace and to enjoy our lives so we tell you this. If you will protect us from the bears and wolves we will come and live with you but you must feed us and protect us and make our lives happy. You must see that we will not be hunted until there are no more of us.
In return you may kill some of us so long as you do it quickly and without giving us pain. You must respect us and thank us for the meat and furs we will give you and we will give you our life force to make your spirit strong. You must ask the Mother Earth to nurture our spirits. We will have a peaceful life and you will have meat and furs to keep you warm in Winter.
For many moons the animals that decided to come live with man were happy and the men always had meat and furs when they needed them. Their spirts were strong with the life force the animals gave them. They lived together in peace, but some men became greedy.
They said,"Why should we grow food and give it to the animals? Why should we take care of them and worry about the wolves and bears? Why should we worry about their pain when we kill them?"
These men became cruel and heartless. They crowded them into pens where they could not enjoy life. They fed them only cheap food that was not good to keep them healthy. They began to kill them in cruel ways because that was easier. They no longer thanked the animals when it was time to take their lives or asked the Earth to nuture the spirits of those they killed. They said the animals had no spirits and were there so men could kill and eat them.
The animals became sick because they were not taken care of. Their meat became sick and soon the men who ate of it also became sick and their spirits became weak so they could no longer give men their life force.
The greedy men became more greedy and began to kill other men so they could take away what they had for their own. Their spirits became weak and soon even the Earth was sick with their weakness.
So long as these greedy men remain the earth will be sick and there will be no more peace.
